Puzzle
by Wandering Lust
Summary: All Teddy Bryard wanted to be was normal...or at least, her definition of normal anyways. But once she becomes involved with one member of the pack, her life will never play out the way she once wanted it to.
1. It all started with a pair

_**Disclaimer; I do not own Teen Wolf. Just Lily, Teddy and Joshua!**_

 _ **A/N; I'm so excited guys! I hope you all enjoy this book. You could find the cast list here (take out spaces) wattpad** **451823885-puzzle-»-teen-wolf-s-s-cast**_

 **CHAPTER ONE;**

 **it all started with a pair**

 **Heavy.** That was the only word that Teddy could use to describe how the weight on her back felt.

Now, any other normal fifteen year old would have immediately begun to panic and flail about in fear of the unfamiliar presence, and rightfully so. However, this wasn't the first time that Teddy was awoken by someone almost crushing her under their weight. And she was pretty sure that it wouldn't be the last.

"Wakey, wakey Teddy! It's time for school!" A feminine voice shouted above her.

"Ugh," Was all Teddy could muster in response before she rolled onto her back to meet the girl's face.

Currently sitting on her pelvis and blocking her view of her room's mint green walls was a tan skin colored girl, with beautiful long brown locks cascading down her glowing cheeks, smiling down at Teddy with pearly white teeth. She wore a cherry colored sundress, accessorized with multiple gold necklaces and a pair of shades on the top of her head. Teddy raised a brow.

"Lil, don't you look a little...overdressed?" Teddy muttered, too tired to even attempt to push her best friend off of her.

"My dear, dear Teddy," Liliana tsked before bopping Teddy on the nose in a very parent like manner. "There's no such thing as overdressed. Now get up! We're going to be late!"

With that, Liliana retreated off of the bed allowing Teddy to finally breathe normally again. Teddy was unmoving for a few seconds, not in the mood for yet another school year. But then she decided to suck it up before blowing a stray brown curl out of her face and hopping out of her bed.

"Remind me why my mother gave you a key to our house again." She said as she made her way to her closet.

"Because if she didn't I wouldn't be here to wake you up every morning, duh."

Teddy rolled her eyes. "Right, thank you, I'm so grateful."

After a short few minutes, Teddy threw something together and made her way to the bathroom to freshen up and change while Liliana took her exit out of the room. It wasn't long before Teddy's teeth were freshly brushed and she was looking at herself in the mirror all dressed to go in an oversized plaid shirt with a white inside top, and a pair of skinny jeans and worn white converse. Unlike Liliana, Teddy didn't really own any makeup or a flat iron and therefore had nothing but her natural biracial skin tone and frizzy honey colored curls to work with. And it's not as if this bothered Teddy, in fact, she could have cared less about how she looked to other people whether she wore makeup or not.

After double checking that she had gotten all of the crust out of her eyes, Teddy made her way up the stairs to meet Liliana who was in the kitchen, just finishing up preparing what Teddy believed to be just a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich. However, Teddy's eyes caught sight of a freshly cut cucumber next to the peanut butter and jelly's respective jars. Her stomach did a flip as she realized that Liliana decided to put her own spin on the basic everyday snack.

"Um, Lil, you really didn't have to—"

"Well of course I did! You're mom's working a double at the diner today so I have to make sure you eat your breakfast too." She announced as she began to pour some orange juice into a glass.

Teddy frowned as she neared the kitchen counter that had the soggy looking sandwich on a small plate. Despite Liliana's matchless looks, she couldn't even make a bowl of cereal without causing it to taste like sweaty socks because of her constant need to add something to make it 'zesty'. And even though Teddy explained to her on many different occasions that cooking was not her forte, that did not stop the little Latina from attempting to prepare a dish every now and then.

"Honestly, I'd rather starve. And you're right we're gonna be late so let's just skip breakfast. I'll just get extra curly fries at lunch today." Teddy explained as she retrieved her backpack from the living room and made her way to the front door.

Though Teddy was already out of sight, Liliana picked up the sandwich that was spilling over with peanut butter and jelly covered cucumbers, taking a modest bite of it. She hummed to herself in approval.

"Suit yourself Teddy-kins."

After that, the two girls made their way out the door, Liliana leading the way in her really high neutral colored wedges, her head held high with Teddy trailing behind her with her bag slung over her shoulders in a less graceful manner. Sure enough, waiting for them on the side of the street was Liliana's black range rover that she got for her birthday a few months ago. The shiny black paint job reflected the morning sun in Teddy's eyes, making her squint them in response. The rims were custom. Not picked out by Liliana, of course. She had no idea about cars. It was actually Teddy's own suggestion.

"I'm honestly surprised you still haven't got one scratch on it." Teddy complemented dryly as Liliana fished for her keys inside of her large Chanel purse.

"Oh shut it Bryard, can't you just be thankful that I will go out of my way to pick you up almost every morning?"

"You live less than five minutes away."

"Jesus Teddy, let me be right about something, will you? Now, where did I put those keys..."

Teddy chuckled from behind her friend's back. But then, the sound of a door opening in the distance interrupted her enjoyment. When she looked in the direction of where the sound came from, she realized that it was her neighbor's door opening.

Out of the doorway came a tall, lanky guy, wearing a purple striped zip up hoodie and a pair of khaki green pants. He looked a little distressed as he pinched the bridge of his nose before looking back up to head towards his vehicle. But before he did so, his head snapped in Teddy's direction, his gaze meeting her own as if he felt that she had caught sight of him.

To her surprise, he sent her a small, awkward wave with an equally awkward smirk on his lips. Teddy, confused yet amused at his gesture, sent a similar wave back. With that, he continued on his way.

"Oh. My. God. Did you just say hi to Stiles Stilinski?"

Liliana's voice caused Teddy to come back to attention. "Huh? Well yea, but more like waved I guess. Why?"

"Why?" Liliana asked as the both of them continued to her car. "Because he's one of the sexiest juniors in our entire school. Well besides Scott McCall of course. But anyways all of the girls in our grade wants to get with him."

"So?"

"Oh my dear, dear Teddy-kins." Liliana cooed as they both hopped into the car and she started the ignition. "You lived next to this guy for as long as I remember and you guys never acknowledge each other. Don't you think him saying hi now is some kind of hint to something?"

Teddy rolled her eyes as she rested her head against the window. On the contrary, it wasn't the first time she had spoke to Stiles before. In fact, she was somewhat of an acquaintance of his at one point long before Liliana came into her life. But after certain changes in her personal life she didn't really make an effort to speak to him, and after a while neither did he. It didn't help that they were separated by a year either. In fact, she realized, it was the first time in a while that they had both said hi to each other in a very long time. Usually, even if they exited their respective homes at the same time, neither of them made an effort to greet each other. Today was just a rare occasion for the both of them.

But instead of explaining all of that to her friend, she just replied with a simple, "Not really."

Liliana took her friend's hesitation in answering as uncertainty. "Well, I think so. I mean, what's the harm in entertaining him? You literally take all junior classes except for P.E. so I'm sure that you see him in some of your classes. You should do it for all your sophomore peers in Beacon Hills High that can't reach him."

"I only have one peer in Beacon Hills High and as much as I love you Lil, I'm not gonna tail a guy for you. Plus I'm sure you could get him if you wanted to."

"Oh of course I can," Liliana replied without missing a beat. "But my goal for this year is to find you a decent guy that hasn't been my sloppy seconds. That's just best friend rule number one."

Teddy once again rolled her eyes but this time with a smirk on her face. They reached the school five minutes later, after which they exited out of the car and made their way into the school.

As soon as the doors opened to reveal Liliana's presence, all eyes landed in her direction just as they did every single day. Some in envy. Some in lust. Some in awe. Her appearance never seemed to disappoint the BHHS student body from its freshmen all the way to seniors. Her confidence was blinding and her beauty was just as striking. One would dare to say she was beginning to take the title of Queen Bee from its previous owner, Lydia Martin.

So Teddy understood why it puzzled people as to why someone as beautiful and popular as Liliana would hang out with someone as unsociable and dryly sarcastic as herself. They were like night and day, oil and water, it was weird that they could get along as well as they did. But what people didn't know about Liliana was that she appreciated honesty. And Teddy was the only girl who had shown her any since freshmen year. Maybe that's why Teddy stuck around her as well, Liliana was the only girl able to take her brutal opinions.

"Is that the famous Liliana Ramos?"

Teddy felt herself being nudged out of the way as a tall blonde male squeezed between her and Liliana in order to wrap his arm around the latter's shoulders. Spotting the blonde hair, usual preppy Vineyard Vines sweater, and khaki pants, Teddy immediately recognized who the voice belonged to.

"Joshua!" Liliana complained before elbowing him off of her. "Would you quit it? You basically trampled over Teddy and you're ruining my hair."

As if just realizing that Teddy was a human being, Joshua looked back at the pint sized female with a heartless smirk. "Oh hey there Bryard, didn't see you there."

"Noted," Teddy muttered. "It's always a pleasure to be greeted by your death like aura, Daniels."

"Still quite the charmer I see. I'm pretty sure I saw that flannel in the thrift shop the other day."

"I'm pretty sure I saw the remainder of your brain in the pig's head we dissected a couple days ago in Chemistry."

"Alright, alright you two! Jesus!" Liliana exclaimed stopping both Teddy and Joshua from progressing any farther. "Joshua we literally have Math in three minutes you could attempt to flirt with me all you want in there. And Teddy, get your cute little tush to Chemistry before Mr. Walker takes back considering you his favorite student. I'll meet you after class."

Teddy gave a lazy salute in Liliana's direction. "Sure mom I'll see you later."

"Don't get sassy with me!" Liliana retorted with a smile before Joshua resumed his position with his hand around her shoulders, giving Teddy one last look of annoyance before they went on their way.

All Teddy did in response was snort before making her own way to class. Joshua was the Class A jackass of the sophomore class. He took joy in sleeping around with girls from freshmen all the way to seniors, and he had the personality of the devil's spawn. It never ceased to puzzle Teddy how Liliana was able to even breathe the same air as him. But seeing as Joshua was related to Jackson Whittemore, the school's heart throb before he disappeared, Teddy guessed Liliana was fated to be in his social circle.

Teddy shrugged to herself before heading to class.

—

"And so that's why, class, we're going to be doing a project in which you will all be paired off to solve a murder case. Each group will be given a bag which contains pieces of a skull that you will have to put back together and answer some questions about. How did they die, how old were they, and what gender they were. Before I give you the materials, however, each group will have to do some research on how to identify information about someone with just their skeletal remains. In a second I'll announce the pairs."

Teddy sighed deeply as she tapped the tip of her pen against her notebook. Although Chemistry was her favorite subject and the substitute teacher Mr. Walker (since their old one, Mr. Harris, was murdered) without a doubt considered her an angel for some reason, she was not a morning person and therefore she hated any class that she had the first period. That and she was in desperate need for some curly fries from the cafeteria as she hadn't had any breakfast.

She unconsciously began to play with her curls, letting her eyes wander around the classroom. She caught some kids whispering about who they wanted to be their partners. Some were couples hoping they would be together, some were friends, and some were even hoping that they had her, the "smartest" kid in the class as their partner. The funny thing about it was that she was sure there were other kids smarter than her in the class, but because she was the only sophomore, to them that made her a genius.

As she continued to observe the room of juniors, as she usually did in all of her classes when she was trying to pass time, she spotted an unfamiliar face on the opposite back corner of the room from her. It was a girl of Asian descent, with tan skin and long dark hair. She wore a black off shoulder long sleeve top and a black skirt and looked absolutely petrified at the fact that she would be paired off with someone. She reminded Teddy of how a freshman looked on their first day of high school.

"—iles, Ms. Bryard."

At the sound of her name, Teddy took her attention off of the girl and flicked her eyes in Mr. Walker's direction. He (as well as the rest of the class) was looking back at her with a clipboard in his hand.

"I-I'm sorry," She stuttered as she ran her hand through her hair sheepishly. "What did you say?"

Mr. Walker chuckled softly at her dazed expression. "Well, well Ms. Bryard I thought you would be a good pair with this student considering you'd teach him a couple things or two about responsibility and exceptional work. Don't let me rethink my decision. You'll be paired with Mr. Stilinski."

It took all of Teddy's self-restraint not to let a 'huh?', leave her mouth. Stilinski? As in Stiles Stilinski? Was he even in this class?

Against her better judgment she decided to scan the room for her estranged neighbor, and sure enough, after a few seconds, she caught a pair of familiar brown eyes looking right back in her direction. Stiles looked just as puzzled and uncomfortable as she was. Though they really had no issue with each other, it was still weird to suddenly be partnered and forced to communicate after such a long time of no communication.

Before the awkward stare down could get any worse, the bell had rung signaling the end of class.

"I want this research done by Friday! See you all tomorrow!" Mr. Harris announced.

As Teddy got up out of her seat, the due date rang in her ears. One of the so called 'nerd habits' (as Liliana called it) that she had was that although it was only Monday she liked getting homework out of the way so that she didn't have to worry about it later. And it wouldn't get done any faster if she didn't at least make an attempt to work together with Stiles.

Biting her lip, she swung her bag over her shoulders and followed after his direction. Because of his long strides far outmatching her small ones, she wasn't able to reach him until he came to a sudden stop in front of his locker.

As she neared closer to him, she noticed that he had taken off the purple striped sweater she spotted him in this morning and was now just wearing the plain white t-shirt he had worn underneath. As his fingers made his way to fiddle with the lock on his locker, Teddy couldn't help but notice the subtle definition in his arms that hadn't been there the last time she took a good look at him, which was probably when he was around twelve.

She bit the inside of her cheek before she began to near him. She wasn't too talkative. In fact, the one person that's heard her talk the most besides her mother was Liliana. She usually only spoke when she had an answer in class, or when she had a smart remark to make. But it wasn't like her to approach someone head on. She was classified as socially awkward.

But it was too late to back down. She was already at his side.

"Hey, Stiles," The words finally came out of her mouth, his name sounding weird coming from her lips.

Stiles paused at putting his Chemistry book back in his locker and seemed just as surprised as he was that she actually approached him. Not only that, but she managed to attempt and start a conversation with him. As he looked down at her, Teddy realized that his eyes were not a mere plain brown, but more of a whiskey color really.

"Is there something on my face?" Teddy questioned in amusement seeing that he was still staring at her.

Realizing that he was being kind of weird, Stiles snapped out of it. "Um, no, no, not at all. It's just, um, you-I didn't expect you, Teddy."

"Yea, I know. I wasn't expecting it myself if that makes sense." Teddy thought to herself with furrowed brows. It didn't make sense. "Anyways, so this project thing. I figured it's best if we get this research over with sooner than later."

"O-Oh yea totally." Stiles agreed. "Maybe we should exchange numbers to let each other know when we're free?"

"Don't we live next to each other anyways?" Teddy questioned as she leaned her side against the lockers.

Red tinging his cheeks in embarrassment, Stiles immediately regretted his suggestion. "Or not. Yea, it would be weird to give each other's numbers right?"

Teddy couldn't help herself. She thought she had social issues but it seemed that even though he was a lot more popular than her Stiles wasn't so great at socializing himself. She held out her hand in his direction.

"Give me your phone Stiles. It's weird but it isn't that weird."

"R-Right!" Stiles responded with a sheepish chuckle as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Let me just type in my password and…"

His words slowly trailed off as his thumb hovered over the keyboard to type in his numerical password. At first, Teddy believed that he had frozen because he had probably forgotten what his password was. But after a few moments, she noticed that his fingers began to tremble uncontrollably, slowly losing his grip on his phone.

"Stiles?" She said softly.

But there was no response. Instead, he continued to stare at his phone with wide eyes, his skin paling as if he was about to be sick. She looked around to see that no one paid them any attention, and therefore meant no one was noticing Stiles's premature panic attack. She looked back at the shaking teen and slowly brought her hands to cover his own.

"Hey," She whispered. "Stiles you're okay. I don't want you to freak out in the middle of the hallway and have everyone think you're crazy, so snap out of it okay. Just look at me."

It took some time, but sure enough, Stiles's hands slowly began to get back to normal, his skin regaining the little color that it had. He slowly picked his head up to meet Teddy's concerned eyes, sweat beading down his forehead.

"You with me?" Teddy asked.

Stiles took a few shaky breaths before licking his drying lips, giving her a nod. "Yea...t-thanks? I guess?"

Teddy smiled as she took her hands off of his. "No problem."

—

It was around ten at night, and Teddy was home alone for a little while until her mother came back from work at midnight. So considering the slightly eventful day she had, she decided to take a soothing bath before heading to sleep.

As she rested her head on the edge of the tub and looked up at the ceiling, her body submerged in bubbles and warm bath water, she tried to focus on the sound of her breath in order to calm her racing mind. But considering that she had been doing it for the past half hour, she was debating on giving up trying.

When Stiles froze like that in front of her, she felt as if she was staring in a mirror. The only reason she knew how to handle him so quickly was that she herself had recently begun to suffer from panic attacks for the past few weeks. The episodes began a little after the sacrifice like murders that had put Beacon Hills on high alert had come to a stop.

Luckily for her though, they always happened at home, and usually, her mom was right there to calm her down just as she did with Stiles in the hallway. Her mom claimed that along with the previous murder spree it was probably due to the stress of balancing all junior classes, and Teddy wished she could believe that it was the actual reason as well. But for some reason, deep down she had a bad feeling…

She sunk herself a little lower into the water so that only her nose and everything above it wasn't submerged. No, she had to stop thinking like that.

She promised herself she'd never be like him.


	2. A broken promise

_**A/N: Okay so yea, there are a couple things I'm gonna address here. So someone kindly pointed out to me that Mr. Harris died back in 3A, so I will definitely be changing the name to some other substitute teacher.**_

 _ **Also I would like to clarify that this takes place in season 3B, but it won't exactly be the same plot. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy**_

 **CHAPTER TWO:**

 **a broken promise**

 **"Teddy, please...this isn't you.** Don't you remember me?"

The voice grated against Teddy's ear similar to how nails dragged across a chalkboard as she walked amongst the deep, dark, forest. It was annoying. She wanted to get rid of it promptly so she could continue on peacefully.

"You promised! You said you wouldn't be like him!"

The voice continued on, causing Teddy's eye to twitch. Why didn't the voice know when to shut up? All she wanted to do was walk through the woods. She liked the way the leaves crunched under her feet with every step she took. The chilling air kissed upon her cheeks, and made her feel as if she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

"Teddy...Teddy don't go there."

But Teddy didn't listen. She continued to travel deeper and deeper into the eerie forest, the moonlight glistening on her creamy skin, one foot following after the other. Right, left, right, left.

"Teddy…"

Right, left, right, left…

"Teddy stop!"

Right, left…

"TEDDY—"

Teddy's hand shot out to the side, gripping the neck of the voice that had been calling out to her so desperately. After minutes of squeezing, the person's words had turned into in audible squeaks before fading away into nothingness. _Finally_ , she thought. She could continue her progress. But first, she had to see who the voice belonged to.

Her eyes turned in the direction of where her arm was extended and followed it until she was able to see the person's face. Through the moonlight, she was met with a lifeless familiar pair of dark brown eyes, beautiful dark skin, and curly dark hair that looked like cotton candy. As Teddy studied stared harder she made was able to deduce two things from her observations. One, it was a female.

And two. It was her mom.

Teddy shot up from her bed, out of breath as if she had run a marathon forward and back. She wasn't sure what she expected when she opened her eyes, but she was relieved when her vision was met with the pure white sheets of her bed instead of the dark forest that her mind had ventured into.

She slowly brought her small hands to her attention, holding them out in front of her eyes. They were shaking uncontrollably but thankfully hadn't looked like she just strangled the life out of someone. It was just a dream.

She took a deep breath before throwing her head back onto the abundance of pillows beneath her, but she dared not shut her eyes to go back to sleep.

Along with the sudden episodes of panic attacks, for the past couple of weeks, she had been having dreams every now and then, all of them including her walking through a forest at night. With each and every time the dream visited her, it felt as if she was getting closer and closer to something. But it was the first time that she had seen and killed someone. And that someone was her mother.

The dream felt so real that if Teddy hadn't caught a whiff of the delicious smelling scent that was coming from the kitchen, she would have believed that her mother was actually rotting away in the forest somewhere.

Shaking the gruesome image from her mind, she decided to brush off the chill in her spine and get dressed for school.

Ten minutes later she was entering the kitchen with a large gray Bruins overhead hoodie that she purchased from the thrift shop some days ago, and another pair of skinny jeans. As she spotted her mom doing the finishing touches on breakfast, Teddy couldn't help but feel a wave of relief wash over her.

Theresa Bryard looked like a darker version of Teddy though with a lot more curves and kinkier hair. She also had an overall much more approachable aura. Her motherly smile welcomed anyone in her direction. Her dazzling personality attracted the hearts of many. Teddy believed she was nothing like her.

"Oh, Teddy!" She exclaimed as she placed a finished plate on the counter. "I was just about to wonder if you were playing hooky."

Teddy gave off a dry chuckle as she stuffed her hands into her sweater pockets. "I think in order to play hooky you would have to have something way more exciting than school to participate in."

Theresa gave her daughter a knowing look before finishing pouring them both a glass of orange juice. "Okay Missy, I forgot that you claim to have a boring a life. Anyways, I'm gonna be working until eleven tonight, so you could either wait up for me and I'll bring back some dinner, or you can cook something yourself."

"Well actually, I might be a little busy tonight," Teddy responded as she stood against the counter and began to dig into her breakfast. Their kitchen was too small to fit a table.

"Really?" Theresa's eyes shot up as she copied her daughter's gestures. "Liliana didn't let me know you two were doing anything tonight."

"Because it's not Liliana this time," Teddy explained.

Theresa paused in taking a bite out of the masterpiece that was her golden eggs, tilting her head sideways to peer at her daughter. "Oh? Then what's happening?"

"Um," Teddy began as she tucked a curl behind her ear. She wasn't sure how her mother would take this information. "Well, a couple days ago I was assigned to pair up with Stiles for this Chemistry project, and I wanted to get it out of the way tonight."

"Stiles?" Her mom repeated as if she had never heard the name before. "Stiles, as in the Sheriff's son Stiles? As in the Stilinski's who live right next to us Stiles?"

Teddy snorted. "I'm not sure there's anyone else that calls himself Stiles in Beacon Hills. Or the world, actually."

"Alright, alright, no need for sass miss." Theresa retorted as she took a bite out of her toast. "I'm just surprised that's all. You and Stiles haven't talked in awhile so for you to be hanging out with him...I mean I'm glad you're starting to rekindle your friendship. You guys always seemed like you would be good friends."

"Okay chill mom, it's just a project." Teddy reiterated. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and using her free hand she reached in to see that it was Liliana who had texted her. "Anyways, I think Lil is her. Have a great day at work."

"Have a great day at school sweetie."

—

Teddy wished that seeing her mother alive and well earlier that morning would cause the churning in her stomach to come to an end. But instead, she felt that it grew with every minute that passed.

She decided that she would keep to herself for the rest of the day, even more so than she usually did. Joshua wouldn't hear any smart remarks from her today. The teachers would have to count on some other smart kid to answer the question in class. Even Liliana was included in straying away from.

She wasn't sure why, but ever since Stiles had broken down in front of her a couple days ago, she felt as if the uneasiness she experienced from the weeks that had passed returned to her, and the dream was just the icing on the cake. She hadn't even dared walk in his direction since that day, and she even considered canceling on their plans of doing the research together and doing it herself.

But, let's face it, it wasn't completely all his fault that this was happening to her. In fact, it probably had nothing to do with him at all. It's just that she made a promise to herself long ago, but her self-control was beginning to waiver.

Even so, she felt that she had to put a little of the blame on him. She could at least claim that she thought she was getting better until she decided to talk to him. That was enough reasoning to avoid him for now.

But sadly, that plan had only lasted until currently.

This was what made her hate having the same lunch period as a majority of the juniors. As she made her way across the school yard for lunch, large brandless over head headphones covering each ear, she wasn't able to catch that in the corner of her eye sat Stiles, who had spotted her immediately despite having an in depth conversations with his group of friends about their current situation.

"U-Uh, hold on a sec guys, I'll be right back." He stuttered, his eyes still following the honey haired girl making her way to an empty bench.

He was halfway off of the bench before he felt his elbow being gripped. When he looked back, he was met with a concerned look by Scott, who only influenced Lydia, Allison, Isaac—well, not so much Isaac, he was too engrossed by his lunch—to do the same.

"Dude," Scott commented. "We were just in the middle of talking about being halfway dead. What's got your attention all of sudden?"

Stiles gulped. Maybe his actions did look a little suspicious. But he didn't feel like explaining to his friends yet again that he had had another panic attack. "I just have to ask this girl a question real quick."

Before any more questions were asked, Stiles had escaped out of Scott's grasp and was making his way over to Teddy.

By this time, Teddy was too submerged in both her music and her Pre-Calculus homework to see the spastic teen approaching her, so she was a little surprised when a hand tapped on her shoulder.

Her heart sank a little when her eyes were met with Stiles's. So much for trying to avoid him.

"Hey," He said, or at least that's what she guessed seeing as she couldn't hear anything. He then gestured that she removed her headphones.

Inwardly sighing to herself, she reluctantly removed the large headphones and clicked the pause button on her phone to stop her music. She figured that she couldn't stay out of his way forever so she might as well listen to what he had to say.

"Hey, so um," Stiles began, shifting from one foot to another. She could tell he hadn't really planned on what he was to say. "I, uh, texted you the other day. You didn't answer back."

"I know I didn't." She replied without missing a beat. Her response caused Stiles's eyes to shoot up in surprise. _Shit_ , she thought. Was that the wrong way for her to reply?

"O-Okay, thanks for the brutal honesty. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you, for the other day ya know? For not freaking out about me basically going insane in front of you." He explained as he ran a hand through his hair. The action caused Teddy to recall when he had a buzzcut instead of the boyband style he had currently.

"Yea," She nodded, looking up to him. "It's fine. No judging here."

"Well that's great," Stiles responded. He paused for a few seconds, wracking his brain for what else he could say. "So, about this project...do you still want to work on it today? Or did I already completely weird you out?"

At his question, Teddy couldn't help a bubble of laughter leave her mouth. Did he really think that was her reasoning for not wanting to talk to him?

"Don't worry Stiles," She said in between laughs. "I've seen weirder. We could meet at my house later tonight okay?"

"Cool," He responded simply before stuffing his hands in his pants pocket. "Well then, I'll see you later."

"Yea," She confirmed with a small smile. "Looking forward to it, Stilinski."

—

She was so not looking forward to it.

Let's face it, Teddy was a wallflower. The only person that she had ever let into her house willingly without a second thought was Liliana, and even that took awhile for her to do. What's worse, her mother wasn't there to be the man in the middle. Teddy was basically all on her own to face someone that wasn't her mom or Liliana in a couple of minutes.

She was pacing back and forth in her room. It was around eight at night, meaning Stiles would be knocking at her door soon. She gnawed away at the extra skin peeling from her cuticles. Put her reservations she had about him with the panic attack aside, she just wasn't a people person, which is why when it came to partner work she always took the liberty of doing it herself. So why didn't she do the same with Stiles again?

Maybe she should cancel. Yeah, she should definitely cancel.

Before she could reach her phone that was sitting on her dresser, however, her doorbell rang.

"Ah, shit." She muttered. So much for canceling.

She took a deep breath. All she could do now was gather her thoughts and try to at least act like a normal person. She kept this mantra in mind before exiting her bedroom and running up the stairs. Once she made it to the door, she tipped on her toes to look through the tiny peephole. On the other side of it she wasn't surprised to see Stiles waiting patiently with his school bag in hand.

Teddy debated pretending like she wasn't home. He would definitely give up and walk back home and leave her at peace. But she went against the devil on her shoulder and opened the door.

"Hey," She said with a small smile. Too late to turn back now.

"Hey," Stiles repeated as he stepped through the doorway. As Teddy locked up behind him, he glanced around the area. It was a very small, modest home. "Oh, is Ms. Bryard home?"

"Nah, she's at work. She won't be home 'till around eleven. So it's just us until then." Teddy explained. "My rooms downstairs, come on."

"Oh, wait, does she still work at that diner on the edge of town?" Stiles questioned from behind as they made their way towards the basement. "What was it called again? Midnight in...Midnight in...Texas?"

Teddy rolled his eyes at his guess in amusement. "Close, but no. Midnight In NY, and I'm very surprised that you remember. I think I only told you that once."

"Yea, my mind kind of holds onto things," Stiles admitted bashfully.

"Guess we have one thing in common," Teddy mumbled more to herself, part of her hoping he hadn't heard her.

The two of them bounded down the basement stairs and came into a small area which had two doors, one of them which was the laundry room and the other, Teddy's bedroom.

Stiles followed behind her as she opened the door. Once he stepped in, he immediately took notice of the small, yet spacious room. It had mint green walls with all white furniture, including a bed, a dresser and a TV stand that also had some drawers. There was one basement window that allowed moonlight to shy into the space, and the carpet was a tan color. There was another door across her bed, and Stiles guessed that it was the bathroom. Everything was neat and there was not one thing that didn't have a placement. It made Stiles's room look like a junk yard.

The two of them sat on the floor and took out their respective laptops to begin their research.

Thirty minutes passed since then, and besides calling out who was looking up and writing what, there were no other words exchanged. Personally, Teddy was completely fine with this. She didn't mind the silence because she really wanted to avoid talking. But Stiles however, was not.

He bounced his uncomfortably crossed legs, continuously glancing back and forth from his Windows laptop screen to Teddy who's features were focused on her own Macbook. Unlike Teddy, the silence made him feel extremely uneasy because he felt as if he continued to stare at the computer screen, the words would begin to fall off the page any minute…

"So!" He exclaimed suddenly, causing Teddy to jump out of her skin, not that he noticed. "How does it feel to be a sophomore taking all junior classes? Well, I guess not all, because technically that wouldn't make you a sophomore right?"

The words poured out of his mouth like water, and Teddy was little caught off guard by the sudden spew of questions. She was hoping that the awkward silence would continue until they had finished their work. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen.

She sighed deeply as she raised her attention from her laptop screen. She may as well entertain his questions before he began reach unnecessary topics. "Yeah, well I still take gym with the sophomores. But next year I don't need to take it anymore, so that would technically make me senior I guess."

"Really?" Stiles questioned as he spun his pen around in his fingers. "That's awesome! I think you're the only person to skip a grade in Beacon Hills High. That must mean you're ridiculously smart."

"Not really." Teddy shrugged, not really appealed by his words. "I just have nothing better to do than to study. Being socially inept does that to you I guess."

Before she could stop herself from saying it, the words were already out there. Even so, she still clasped her hand on her mouth in shock. How did she manage to let that personal fact go so easily? She immediately glanced to see that Stiles had paused in twirling his pen, and was staring at her with his mouth slightly parted in shock. She seriously wanted to hide between her laptop at that point.

"A-Are you serious?" Stiles questioned with a raised brow.

Teddy didn't reply. Instead, she continued jotting down notes in fear of being judged. Not many things affected her, which was why she had skin thick enough to deal with Joshua, but when it came to her social anxiety, she was extremely fragile.

So what if she had an issue communicating with people? Obviously thanks to the therapy sessions she went through previously, she had made enough progress to have Liliana as a close friend, and that was all she needed. She didn't feel the need to put herself out there any more than that.

"Hey listen, I'm not judging you or anything!" Stiles exclaimed as he put out his hands in front of him in a frantic manner, realizing that she had gone silent. "It's just that, I kinda get it now. I honestly just thought you didn't like me, and that you were being cordial for like the sake of the grade on the project or something beause trust me I'm used to having people not like me."

Teddy shook her head, still a little hesitant if she should believe him or not. "Why would you think I didn't like you?"

It was Stiles's turn to go quiet. He slumped back down as he nervously fiddled with his hands. "Well, I mean we weren't that close to begin with, but you kinda distanced yourself from me back when we were kids. And I mean it wasn't all your fault. I could've tried to reach out, but I guess the we were both going through our own things, right?"

Teddy bit her lip at his words. She had to admit, his words were partially true, but not for the reason he believed. In any case, the fact that he was also admitting the part he played in their estranged friendship made her feel the slightest bit of respect for him.

To Stiles, it looked like he had upset Teddy with his words. Well of course he did, he was an idiot. He rubbed his fingers against his forehead as he took a deep breath.

"Listen," He began. "I have social anxiety too. And ADHD. So, you don't have to feel weird or anything around me. I understand."

This time, Teddy couldn't help but smile. This was him attempting to connect with her, and she kind of appreciated it. "Yea, thanks for letting me know. Anyways, it's hard to believe that you have any of those issues. The girls, and some guys too, in my grade think that you and your friend Scott are two of the hottest guys in school."

"WHAT!" Stiles exclaimed. If he had been drinking something, he would have spit it out right there and then. Scott was an obvious choice, but him? "Me? Seriously?"

"Yes, you." Teddy replied. "I don't know I guess your sexual appeal shot up from the middle of my freshmen year and they all took notice. That's why this kid named Joshua hates you."

"Joshua?" Stiles repeated, the name sounding sort of familiar to him. Then it hit him "Isn't that Jackson Whittemore's little cousin?"

"Yup. Apparently being an asshole is an inheritable trait." Teddy muttered under her breath.

Stiles laughed at her remark, and Teddy was a little surprised. She hadn't heard him laugh in a long time.

The two of them continued talking about everything. It seemed that they were slowly beginning to open up to each other and try and catch up with what has been happening in each other's lives since they were younger. Teddy slowly began to allow her walls to lower more and more, giving Stiles permission to see into her life, and she honestly didn't really mind.

A little while passed, and after a few more discoveries about each other, such as that they both enjoyed Star Wars, both had a never ending love for curly fries, but disagreed when it came to their favorite sports team—Stiles's was the Mets, Teddy's was the Bruins (they were two completely different sports, but whatever)—Teddy decided to excuse herself to the bathroom.

After she finished up and beginning to wash her hands, she couldn't help but think to herself that maybe she was overreacting about Stiles. Maybe his panic attack hadn't caused weird things to start happening to her again. Maybe there wasn't anything happening to her at all. Like her mother said, it was probably the weird events of Beacon Hills along with her school work getting to her.

She was fine. She was still her.

She washed the soap from her hands and dried them off in her shirt. She reached for the doorknob to return to her studies but decided to take one look in the mirror to make sure she still looked like a decent. Most likely she was fine, but there was no harm in double checking, right?

Boy was she wrong.

She had to rub her eyes to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. But even after she did so, nothing about the situation changed.

Looking back at her weren't the regular brown eyes she was used to seeing every time she looked at her reflection. Instead, the whites of her eyes had completely turned a blood red. Her simple chocolate brown colored irises were now pitch black, and lifeless.

The sight caused the hairs on her neck to stand, a cold sweat to overtake her back, and her knees to go weak. It couldn't be happening. She promised. She promised that she wouldn't become him.

She promised that she wouldn't become her father.

Finally finding her voice that she was beginning to think she had lost, Teddy let out a blood-curdling scream.

 _ **A/N: So what do you all think of Mama Bryard? I personally love her! And yes, just to clarify, Teddy is socially inept and has a hard time communicating with people she isn't comfortable with. Also what do you think is happening with Teddy? What do you think about her promise not to become her dad? Please remember to review + vote.**_


	3. From an inch to a mile

**_A/N; Thanks for all the reviews and follows guys. It really adds to my motivation to keep going. I really appreciate it. Now, enjoy another chapter of Puzzle!_**

 **CHAPTER THREE:**

 **from an inch to a mile**

 **Stiles wasn't sure what scared him more.**

The horrific scream that he heard leave Teddy's lips, or the fact that when he entered the bathroom he was not met with the soft, innocent brown eyes that he had been staring into moments ago. No. Instead, his eyes caught the gaze of a demonic pair of eyes that caused him to stumble back in fear with how terrifying they looked.

Teddy obviously didn't realize he had come in at first, too busy screaming at herself in the mirror in complete horror. So Stiles thought that he should at least try to get a closer look. What if she was in pain or something? Whatever the case was, he wanted to try and help her. But as he dared to take another step forward, Teddy's head snapped in his direction at the sound of his footstep. He didn't even have the chance to get any closer because before knew it her arm whacked him right in his chest.

Now, looking at Teddy, she had such a tiny body that Stiles assumed she couldn't weigh more than 115 lbs. So basically a whack in the chest from her should feel like nothing to him. So the law of physics needs to explain to him how he ended up flying meters away from her, just nearly missing hitting her bedroom door. Luckily her floor was carpeted, or else it would have been much more harsh landing.

His head spinning from the impact, Stiles slowly pushed himself up. However, before hopping back on his feet, he held out his hands in front of him, counting to make sure that all ten of his fingers were still there. He seriously hoped there wasn't because if so, that would mean this was all a dream. And he that hadn't been thrown across the room by itty bitty Teddy. And that he was still napping on his bed waiting for his alarm to remind him about their research session.

And the one time he hoped he was dreaming, he was actually awake.

"Shit." He muttered to himself before rising up.

Once he was fully recovered, Stiles realized that Teddy's screams ceased to the point that all he could hear from the bathroom were inaudible whimpers that made even him feel a little shaken up even though he wasn't even sure why she was crying. It sounded like she was a puppy going through pain. Now that the bathroom door was open, he was able to see that she had curled into a ball on the ground, clutching at her face with her hands.

Stiles took a deep breath before making his way towards her. He should've run, he definitely should've run, but he couldn't abandon her like that, not when she had just made the decision in confiding even just the tiniest information about herself despite her social issues. Not when they had just started becoming cordial with each other again. Plus, he wasn't _that_ heartless.

She was still writhing on the floor by the time he made it to the doorway. He decided to stay there for a few moments, making sure that she wouldn't smack him away again. He wasn't sure if he could handle another hit to the chest. But she stayed in the same position on the floor and finally Stiles decided she wouldn't be getting onto her feet anytime soon.

"Teddy," He said before kneeling down to her level. He cautiously placed his hands on her own, which was still covering her eyes. "Hey, Teddy come on. It's okay. Let me help you."

"I can't make it stop!" She sobbed, her voice muffled by her hands. "I can't make it stop!"

Stiles could tell that her cries weren't meant for him specifically, more so that she was just crying out in agony. Her voice vibrated within his chest and he could feel that whatever was happening to her, whether she knew exactly what it was or not, she didn't want it. He bit his lips as he thought of something he could do to help her, because obviously just talking wasn't going to help. Finally, an idea appeared in his mind. Not a good one necessarily, but an idea none the less.

"Okay, okay, listen. I know someone that could help you. But you have to come with me okay? He's not too far from here."

Teddy didn't reply, she just continued to sob into her hands. Obviously, she didn't trust him and honestly, he didn't really blame her. He wasn't even sure if the person he was thinking of could help. But he was willing to bet.

"Come on Teddy, you'll be fine, okay?" He cooed softly. "Just please, trust me."

It took a while. Teddy stayed curled in her fetus position for quite a while. But soon, her cries had died down into quiet sniffles. Her hands slowly began to drop from her face, revealing the demonic like eyes that had caused her to become so distraught in the first place. Stiles almost jumped back at how terrifying they looked, but he knew if he did that she would do more than just whack him in the chest.

"What do you mean, 'you know someone'?" She questioned under her breath as she sat up.

Stiles licked his dry lips and released a sigh. "Trust me, I've dealt with stuff like this before...kinda."

—

This really wasn't how Stiles expected his night to turn out. He thought that studying with Teddy would help him get a sense of normalcy from all the crazy things that had been happening to him recently, and for a solid forty-five minutes, it was actually working. He forgot that he was going crazy. He forgot that he could barely tell the difference between reality and dreams. But he should've known that nothing in his life would go the way he wanted it to, hence why he was currently driving towards Deaton's with Teddy in the passenger seat. Her were eyes hidden by the hood she had pulled over her head, and she had been silent since the moment they entered the jeep.

He continued to glance between her and the road, millions of questions bustling in his head. For someone who's eyes had just changed into a pair that belonged to Legion from Ghost Rider, Teddy was seemed to be ashamed than terrified if anything. Like as if her eyes making such a drastic change meant she had failed at something. Kinda like...she actually knew _exactly_ what was happening to her.

But Stiles dared not voice his suspicions, at least, not until she was in a better state of mind. His chest still ached.

"I know I should be a lot more concerned that you claim to know someone who could help me when you don't even know what's happening, but for some reason, I'm freakishly calm. I think I'm in a state of shock." Teddy said, her head leaning against the window, finally breaking the heavy silence.

As Stiles rounded a corner, he used his free hand to scratch the side of his cheek. "Yea, well, I may not know exactly what's happening, and I doubt you'd willingly tell me, but like I said I have dealt with this kinda stuff before."

"What kinda stuff?"

"You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."

From the corner of his eyes, Stiles could see Teddy shuffling around as if she had found his response funny.

"Touche." She replied in an amused tone.

A few more minutes of awkward silence persisted until Stiles finally pulled into the parking lot of the Beacon Hills Veterinarian. As he shifted the car into the park, Teddy (eyes still hidden) leaned forward to make sure that she was reading the sign correctly.

"I'm sorry," she said as she reluctantly undid her seatbelt, "Did you just bring me to a _vet_?"

Stiles rolled his eyes. He figured he would get this reaction. "Yes I know it's weird but trust me this dude has knowledge beyond his years. Or maybe not too far beyond. Honestly, you never know with him."

With that, the two of them exited the vehicle and walked towards the entrance. The door was left ajar as if the Veterinarian/Druid had been expecting them to come. And honestly, Stiles didn't think that was such a far fetched assumption.

"Yo Deaton," He called out as they stepped into the practice. "You back there?"

A few moments passed, and Stiles feared for a little that their confidant was not present. However, finally, the dark skinned man appeared from around the back, a clipboard in his hand as if he had actually been doing something that related to caring for animals. It was kind of amusing to Stiles.

"Stiles," Deaton began before his eye caught sight of Teddy. Confusion flashed across his face. "Is there anything I can help you all with?"

"Uh, yea, kinda," Stiles spoke before nudging Teddy with his elbow. "Show him, Teddy."

Teddy's shoulders tensed at this, and Stiles hoped she would be able to trust Deaton enough to at least show him her eyes. She bit her lips together, slowly uncrossing her arms and bringing her hands to her hood. Inch by inch, she let it slip from her curls before finally raising her chin to show Deaton her terrifying gaze.

At this, Deaton's mouth immediately parted in shock. He quickly glanced behind the two teens to make sure that there was no one watching. Once he confirmed they were alone, he returned his attention to them.

"Come with me to the back." He ordered. "Quickly."

The urgency in his voice made Teddy and Stiles waste no time in following behind him. Once they arrived in the operating room, Deaton immediately locked the door behind them. If nothing else convinced Stiles that Deaton knew exactly what was happening with Teddy, the way he was being so secretive about it sure did.

"Alright, Teddy was it? My name is Alan Deaton. You have to tell me exactly how this happened before I help you okay?" Deaton explained in a very doctor like manner.

"How it happened…?" Teddy repeated as she glanced between him and Stiles. The two males noticed her unconsciously take a couple steps back as if she was beginning to feel trapped.

"Y-Yes," Deaton said as he raised a brow. He didn't see what was so uncomfortable about the question. Unless..."Do you have any idea what's happening to you?"

"Um, I-I…" Teddy began as she glanced downwards to the floor. "Well…"

Stiles wasn't sure if this was her social anxiety talking, or that she truly didn't want to tell them something. Or maybe it was both. In any case, she needed to be able to open up to them if she wanted help getting back to normal.

"Hey," Stiles called out softly as he cautiously stepped towards her. "Hey Teddy, come on it's okay. He's only trying to help you. He won't do anything to you I promise."

At this, Teddy raised her eyes to look at the two men before her. Stiles could see the war racing through her mind as she nervously tucked a curl behind her ear. She seemed to always do this action when she was uncomfortable with what she was about to took a deep breath before leaning against one of the metal counters, mentally preparing herself.

"M-My…" She gulped loudly, her eyes looking anywhere but in their direction. "My dad...was an Erinyes."

"Your dad?" Deaton repeated as he stepped closer to her.

She nodded her head solemnly. "Yea, him and his entire family. I…I thought for some dumb reason that I would be able to suppress the gene and not become one...but stupid me, of course, I was wrong."

"Wait, wait, wait," Stiles called out with the wave of his hands. "Before this gets any deeper than it already has, will someone _please_ tell me what an Erinyes is?"

The fact that only Deaton and Teddy were in on the conversation was pissing him off. He hated not knowing things.

Deaton glanced at Teddy, who was still avoiding looking at them and returned to Stiles's impatient gaze. "An Erinyes is sort of like, a lesser god of vengeance and death. They're like most supernatural creatures in the sense that they have enhanced abilities, but they also have...other abilities."

Stiles narrowed his eyes in Deaton's direction, suspicion evident on his face. "Okay. What other abilities are we talking about here?"

"Well," Deaton was hesitant, once again glancing in Teddy's direction to make sure she was okay with him expounding upon the subject. But once seeing that she still had her attention lowered to the ground, he continued, "They're also known to be mind manipulators. But those are usually more common in Erinyes that have mastered their powers."

"They're _monsters_." Teddy finished, finally mustering up the courage to look their way. "They should never exist. They're _disgusting_."

The way that she spat out the words like poison caused shivers to run down Stiles's spine. They were filled with such raw hatred. It was no wonder that she screamed the way she did when she saw her eyes transform. She knew exactly what was beginning to happen to her. She just didn't want it to. He never thought there would be another person who rejected any kind of power other than him, as he was offered the bite countless of times, and he never gave in once.

Stiles could tell that Deaton was thinking similar thoughts as his eyes shot Teddy a look of sympathy.

"Can you tell me when the symptoms started to happen?" He questioned. "I'm honestly surprised you've been able to hold off this long."

Teddy snorted as she crossed her arms. "Yea, well, not long enough. It started happening a few weeks ago, a little after those weird sacrifice murders had died out. But this was the first time my eyes changed."

"A few weeks ago?" Stiles mumbled under his breath. It couldn't be…"But that would mean—"

Deaton was already way ahead of him. "Stiles, I believe that when you, Scott and Allison performed the sacrifices and restarted the Nemeton which is basically the supernatural beacon of this town, that you all may have jump started a lot the attraction of a lot of supernatural creatures. And that means you most likely forced the Erinyes gene in Teddy to awaken."

Stiles felt his stomach drop. When Deaton put it all into perspective, it made sense. But then that would mean he was part of the reason that Teddy was becoming something she hated. Meaning, it was partially his fault that this was happening to her.

Teddy, obviously, wasn't thinking that far. She was still puzzled on what the hell was a Nemeton and the sacrifices that Deaton was talking about. But considering that he knew every detail about what she was, she couldn't exactly declare him as crazy just yet. So instead, she decided to take his words into account.

"Wait a second," She stated as she leaned off of the counter. "Is that why every time I get around Stiles it feels like my abilities are surfacing? Because he's been acting weird too."

At this, Deaton immediately turned in Stiles's direction, and Teddy followed suite. It was now his turn to be interrogated. Great. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He had been planning on letting Deaton know about the issues he had been having on his own time, but since Teddy managed to put it out in the open there was no point in delaying it any further.

"Alright, so I _may_ have had a few panic attacks here and there where I'm dreaming without actually knowing I'm dreaming. But Scott can't transform! And Allison keeps seeing her dead aunt everywhere! So it's not just me acting weird," He directed that towards Teddy.

"And what's been happening in these dreams?" Deaton asked, ignoring his jab at Teddy.

"Well," He began as he sighed deeply. "Everything I read turns into a different language, people start making odd gestures at me, ya know just your average everyday dream things."

"Wait, is that why you were freaking out about your phone that day?" Teddy questioned to which Stiles confirmed with a nod.

"What kind of gestures were they making?" Deaton pressed on.

"Um, well I could only remember bits and pieces of it," Stiles explained.

"It's okay, give it a shot."

"Okay, well there was this." One gesture. "Then this." Another gesture. "And then this in between." Another gesture.

Deaton was quiet for a moment, carefully processing the information that Stiles had given him. Teddy frowned. She knew that it was sign language, but she didn't exactly know what it meant.

Finally, Deaton had an answer, or question rather. "When is a door not a door?"

Stiles immediately gave off a look of disbelief. _That's_ what his dreams were asking him? A question? And a very stupid one at that. "When is a door not a door? So my subconscious is terrorizing me just because it wants to ask me a riddle?"

Teddy thought about the riddle herself. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she made a note that Stiles would tell her now that he knew about her secret. So she decided that she should at least participate in the conversation. But when was a door _not_ a door?

And suddenly, the answer came to her.

"When it's a jar."

Deaton and Stiles both looked in her direction in shock. She simply shrugged in response.

"That's actually correct," Deaton stated before giving his attention back to Stiles. "I think that when the three of you went under the water and went from unconsciousness to a sort of super-consciousness, you managed to open a door in your minds. It's ajar."

"The door in our minds are open," Stiles repeated before pursing his lips. Just perfect. "Well, okay then, how do we close it?"

"That's sort of difficult to answer...I would say that your best bet now is trying to get Teddy here to hack into your mind and do it herself, but as I said, her powers are only just awakening." Deaton explained with a sigh.

"How about you quit talking like I'm not here." Teddy interrupted as she stepped between them, not liking the idea of using her abilities for anything. "And speaking of these horrible powers of mine, how am I gonna get these eyes under control before I go home?"

Deaton couldn't help but chuckle at Teddy's straightforwardness. "Well for you, that's an easy fix. Just a few doses of wolfsbane and your powers should be suppressed...for now."

"Woah, woah, wait. Isn't that, I don't know, _poisonous_ to werewolves?" Stiles questioned, worry over taking his features.

"Werewolves?" Teddy muttered.

"Yes, but for Erinyes, it is only enough to cancel out her abilities. Other than that it's harmless." Deaton explained as he gathered the wolfsbane into a needle. "But I'm afraid that I can't reverse this permanently, Teddy. You are an Erinyes whether you like it or not. I hope you understand that."

At this, Stiles watched as Teddy's gaze once again returned to the ground. For some reason, he had a feeling that she knew that there was nothing she could do the moment she saw herself in the mirror. But when it came from Deaton's lips, it completely crushed the little bit of hope that she had.

It only reminded Stiles once again that it was his fault.

And that guilt did not go away. Even as Teddy's eyes went back to normal and they said their farewells to Deaton before heading back to the jeep, it didn't go away. Even as they began their short trip back to her house, it didn't go away. Even as Stiles began to fill in Teddy as much as he could about what was what behind the facade of Beacon Hills, it didn't go away. He played a part in her transformation, whether he liked it or not.

"So," She finally said after Stiles had finished telling her the truth about the rest of the supernatural world. "Scott's a werewolf."

"Yup."

"Lydia Martin's a screaming thingy."

"Banshee."

"Banshee, right. And Allison is a hunter."

"Uh-huh."

"And Derek Hale, the famous lacrosse player that used to go to our high school, is also a werewolf. Born, not bitten."

"That is correct."

"Holy shit." Teddy finally breathed as she slumped into the passenger's seat. "And you're telling me that you hang around all of them without _any_ abilities whatsoever?"

"Alright, I have a bat, Jesus." He defended with a pout.

Teddy laughed. "Right, of course you do."

But as soon as she said this, she went freakishly quiet. Stiles couldn't help but steal another glance in her direction to see that she was just staring at the road ahead, a blank expression on her face. He knew she wouldn't say it out loud, but she was dreading the days to come. He wasn't sure what made her hate her species so much, or what her dad had to do with it seeing as he never met the guy before, but he didn't want to push her any further.

However, once again he did feel a little responsibility for her. So he had to try and do _something_ to make her feel the least bit better.

He bit his lip nervously before mustering enough courage.

"You know, you should try getting to know them. You shouldn't have to feel alone in this. You aren't the only one who has...abilities."

There was no response for a little while, and Stiles began to believe that she just wasn't going to reply to his offer at all. But then, he heard her release a sigh.

"That's just it Stiles. I didn't want to be special. Honestly, I was fine being to myself and only having Lily around. But now with all this…" She trailed off, hitting her head back against the seat's cushion in frustration. It wasn't as if Stiles's idea was awful but….

"I don't know Stiles." She finally said. "I haven't talked to you in years and here I am letting you in on something I've never wanted to become a reality. Things are just happening way too fast."

 _Yea, I know_ , Stiles agreed mentally. He understood her perfectly. With all of this happening to her in only a span of a few weeks, he wasn't surprised she wouldn't jump at the idea of being surrounded by people who have dealt with situations such as hers for almost a year now. In fact, if it wasn't for him and his friends, she wouldn't have had to deal with it at all.

"I'm sorry." The words finally left his lips, what he had been meaning to say the moment Deaton told him the consequences of their sacrifice and how it affected her.

She shuffled a bit, finding a sudden interest in her chipped black painted fingernails.

"Yea...I am too."

 ** _A/N; Hey guys! So what do you all think about Teddy now? Do you find it pretty interesting that she's an Erinyes? And poor Stiles feels like he's responsible :( Remember to comment +fav+follow_**


	4. To avoid or not to avoid

_**A/N;**_ **Hey ya'll. It's been a couple weeks, but I've been a little busy with college and what not lol. So with that being said updates will be a little slower until I could get into the groove of things. But I hope you guys are still interested in this story. I would really like to hear some more thoughts on it. Anyways, onward!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOUR:**

 **to avoid or not to avoid**

Teddy would be lying if she said that she felt any better in the morning. In fact, she felt ten times worse since the events that occurred the day before. Although Deaton's wolfsbane was enough to stop her eyes from glowing, like he said, it didn't completely get rid of her abilities.

At two in the morning, she had awoken to the sound of a newborn's cry. At first, she believed—and hoped—that she was only imagining things. That she was still dreaming. But once she heard the sound of the voice calming the child down, she immediately recognized it as Ms. Wilson, a brand new mother that lived a couple blocks from the Bryard household.

When Teddy had realized this, she immediately slammed her hands to cover her ear, tears falling down her cheeks as she tried to cry silently in fear that her mother would wake up. She ended up crying herself right back to sleep until her alarm went off for school.

Her mother had offered to drive her to the school on her way to work, and Teddy was thankful. She had not felt like dealing with Liliana just yet. She was already forced to deal with her mother not knowing the monster she was becoming.

So when Liliana had appeared at her table in the school's courtyard during her free period in order to figure out the 'gossip' on her and Stiles's studying the previous night, Teddy was more than frustrated about it, but she tried her best to hide it.

"So, nothing happened?"

"Nope."

"Not even a peck?"

"Nope."

"Not even a request to go out on a date that doesn't include your stupid science stuff."

"Not at all."

Liliana pouted her red painted lips in annoyance, causing Teddy to wince internally as she worked on homework due the next day.

"Please don't give me that look," Teddy begged.

Liliana regained her composure before blinking innocently. "What look?"

"That, 'I'm gonna punch that kid in the penis' look."

Liliana was very mom like when it came to certain things with Teddy, including if the Hispanic felt that someone did not see Teddy in the same light she did (which she described to be an adorable ball of mystery waiting to be solved), she had no issue in running up to them and telling them otherwise. This was another reason why Joshua's insults only went so far. He knew how testy Liliana was when it came to Teddy.

"Well, he deserves to be!" She exclaimed defensively. "I mean, I saw the way he looked when he said hi to you, and my observations are never wrong when it comes to a guy looking at a girl. Either he is a total jack ass that wants to string you along or you guys were interrupted before he could ask you out on a date."

Teddy snorted at the word 'interrupted', flashbacks of the previous night appearing in her mind. "Maybe it's neither Lily, maybe he just doesn't like me. And I definitely don't like him either. In any kind of way."

It was a sorta harsh thing to say, but between Liliana's continuous pestering and her frustration with Stiles from last night, she couldn't have put it any better. No matter how anyone had looked at it, if she hadn't decided to get close to Stiles then she would still be herself. Granted that she would have begun to have difficulties controlling her abilities after the sacrifices he and his friends made despite not getting involved with him, but who's to say she wouldn't have been able to suppress it over time? It was all thanks to Stiles and his 'open soul' being around her that things had started to go downhill for her. Which was exactly why she avoided him once again.

At least, that was what she was telling herself.

But deep down she knew that she shouldn't blame the entire thing on Stiles, or his friends for that matter. They were just trying to save their parents. They didn't know that doing so would have any effect on her. Hell, only one of the three knew she existed.

The reality was she couldn't run away from her truth forever. But she just wanted to prove her dad wrong…

"Well, well, well, is that Teddy talking about how she hates everyone again?"

And to make matters worse, Joshua decided to grace her with his presence.

"Oh Jesus," Liliana muttered as the tall blonde slid next to her, attempting to wrap his arm around her before she swatted it away. "You're like a parasite."

"Aww, don't say that babe." Joshua complained with a fake pout. "You didn't mind me being a parasite last night—"

"Okay first of all, disgusting," Teddy commented while returning to her homework.

"And secondly, don't call me babe." Liliana cut in with a flip of her hair. "You don't call me that unless we're a couple. Which we are not."

"Whatever you say, Lily." Joshua retorted with a smug look on his face. "Anyways, besides wanting to see your beautiful face, I also wanted to ask if you heard that there've been some coyote sightings recently around here. I would ask Teddy but you know, she hates everything that breaths so I didn't think she'd care."

"Up yours Joshua." Teddy snapped back calmly while giving him the middle finger.

"Seriously? Now we have coyotes in Beacon Hills along with the sudden appearance of wolves and random murders? Can this town get any weirder?" Liliana muttered before she took out her phone and began reapplying her lipstick using the camera as her mirror.

Teddy bit her lip at her best friend's comment. Liliana only knew the surface of just how weird their little town was.

—

There was one flaw in Teddy's plan to avoid Stiles and his friends all together. She had a good amount of classes with them.

Of course, she had not realized this until she entered into her World History class, only to see the whiskey eyed teen standing in the corner with Scott, along with a beautiful brunette that Teddy recognized to be Allison Argent. At first, the three teens had been so engrossed in something that was on Scott's phone that they barely even noticed the other people surrounding them. But once the class bell had sounded, and Allison left the two of them behind, she felt her body stiffen as Stiles looked up and met her gaze.

Now, it hadn't been the first time that they had seen each other since last night. In fact, this morning, while they were both walking to each other's respective cars, they stared at each other as they were doing currently. Stiles had dared to send a wave in her direction, which she simply ignored before joining her mother in the car.

This time Stiles, learning from his mistake, was the first one to break eye contact before heading to his seat beside Scott. Teddy watched him a little longer before biting her lip and making her way to her own seat, all the way in the back of the class.

As the class went on, Teddy tried to ignore Stiles, she really did. But how could she ignore him when he was continuously looking back in her direction?

Every few minutes or so she would feel his eyes burning into the side of her profile. Of course, she wouldn't return the look because then that would give him some sort of hint that she still wanted something to do with him. And she didn't. Not at all.

Didn't she?

Well, he did basically ruin her attempt at what she considered a normal life. But then again, before she knew his part in awakening her Erinyes gene when he was just her regular study partner, she didn't exactly mind his presence. They had similar interests and unlike most people that were greeted by her cold attitude, he still persisted in trying to get through to her. Besides, she noticed how happy her mom was that she was starting to reach out to someone other than Liliana. And even when finding out that she wasn't who he thought she was, he didn't run.

She sighed deeply as she absentmindedly wrote some notes down from Mr. Yukimura's lecture. Stiles wasn't a bad person, she knew that. But what if avoiding him was the only way she could stay herself for a little while longer?

"Alright class," Mr. Yukimura announced as he placed his copy of the class textbook on the pedestal. "I would like a volunteer to read this page aloud for the class. How about you Mr. Stilinski?"

At this, Teddy's head immediately snapped in Stiles's direction. As she expected, Stiles began to fidget around nervously, his fingers fumbling with the cover of his textbook.

"Um, is it okay if someone else goes?" Stiles mumbled.

Teddy knew she shouldn't, but she found herself doing it anyway. "I'll go Mr. Yukimura, it's fine."

Everyone's head snapped at the back of the class at this, putting Teddy at the center of attention, something she seriously hated. Even Mr. Yukimura was giving her a look of surprise.

"Wow, Ms. Bryard. You're not really one to participate in my class. And while I'm happy that you've finally decided to do so, I'm afraid I've already asked Stiles to read." Mr. Yukimura explained nicely before returning his attention back to Stiles. "So Stiles, please come up and read for the class."

Teddy cursed under her breath as she watched Stiles fidget around his seat a little more. Before he stood up, he glanced back at her with begging eyes and made his way towards the front of the class.

He clutched his hands around the textbook that laid before him, so hard that his pale knuckles began to turn white. He glanced upwards at the students in the class before licking his lips and beginning to read.

"Invalid Constitutional...Constitu...Const..."

Teddy watched as Stiles's eyes began to roll over, and she knew that he was beginning to have another panic attack. As gasps and whispers spread around the classroom at his actions, she felt herself rise out of her seat when it looked as if he was about to collapse to the floor but paused when she caught sight of Scott beating her to his aid.

"I think I'll take him to the nurse," Scott announced as he grabbed a hold of Stiles.

Mr. Yukimura did not protest as Scott lead a panicking Stiles out of the classroom. Teddy watched as the two boys exited the classroom, feeling her heart race. The panic attack looked a lot worse than the one he had when she tried to put her number on his phone.

"Alright," Mr. Yukimura announced as the tension lightened a little. "Let's just have silent reading for the rest of class."

Although Teddy's eyes cast downward to her textbook, she couldn't bring her mind to understand what she was reading.

About twenty minutes later the class bell had finally rung, signaling the end of the class. Teddy immediately burst out of her seat and slung her bag over her shoulders. She had a free period, so she figured she could maybe check on Stiles to see if everything was okay. Even though she was avoiding him, she wasn't so heartless that she wouldn't at least check up on him.

But as she made her way out of the classroom, her eyes caught sight of the spazzy teen's backpack still on the floor beside his desk.

"Oh, I think that's Stiles's."

Teddy's eyes shot up at the unfamiliar voice. Standing before her was the new girl that she noticed a couple of days ago, looking down at her with an aura that screamed sunshine and rainbows. Teddy was tempted to shield herself with the back of her hand from the brightness.

"Oh sorry," the girl continued even though Teddy had yet to say anything. "I was just gonna return Scott his bag too—I mean not because I like him or anything, I so don't—but yea anyways I saw Stiles's bag too and I was gonna get that to him too but then you grabbed it so—"

"Okay, okay, okay," Teddy whined as she pinched the bridge of her nose. And here she thought Liliana could talk anyone's ears off. "Who are you again?"

"Oh, right," she began apologetically as her wide smile slowly began to shrink at Teddy's harshness. "I'm Kira Yukimura. I just moved here three weeks ago. But I'm pretty quiet so nobody knows me. I don't really have any friends yet. I don't know why I'm still talking."

"Neither do I," Teddy replied as she leaned over to pick Stiles's bag off of the ground. "So your Mr. Yukimura's daughter?"

Kira nodded her head in response, careful to watch her talkative mouth.

Teddy took a deep breath. She honestly did not feel like walking with someone she didn't know. Especially one with such a different personality from her own. But unlike herself, it seemed like Kira wasn't a fan of not having someone to talk to. Teddy's pretty sure that she's one of the first people that the younger Yukimura spoke to since transferring to BHHS.

So, instead of walking away and leaving Kira to figure out how to find Scott on her own, Teddy decided to try and follow what her therapist said about meeting new people.

"Do you wanna...I dunno, come with me to find them, or something?" Teddy questioned with a lazy shrug.

Even though her tone was very much unwelcoming, which she really couldn't help, Kira's eyes brightened as the light returned to her face.

"Yea, sure!"

—

They were silent the entire time.

As soon as the two girls left the class, the attempt to speak to each other was thrown out the window. For Kira, it was because she believed that Teddy didn't really want to be bothered with what she wanted to talk about. For Teddy, it was because she truly didn't know how to talk to anyone other than Liliana and found herself grasping at straws on what to talk about.

So the result led into a silent hunt to find the two teenage boys.

They hadn't been in the nurse like Teddy expected them to be, so she figured they had probably gone to the boys' locker room in order to be secluded while Stiles calmed down.

While the two of them walked down the surprisingly dark hallway which led to the locker rooms, Kira finally managed to find the guts to speak.

"So you and Stiles are friends?" she questioned from behind Teddy.

"Not at all, just neighbors." Teddy quickly responded without a second thought.

"O-Oh," Kira replied. "It's just that, when he wasn't feeling well in the middle of class, you were the first one out of your seat to try and help him."

Teddy rolled her eyes, thankful that Kira was behind her and couldn't see the action. Why was it that people believed that being worried for someone meant that they had to have some kind of significant relationship? It was normal to want to see if someone is okay without having to be friends with them unless said someone was Joshua Daniels.

But before Teddy was about to explain this to Kira, a low, grumbling sound made her stop in her tracks, causing Kira to bump into her back.

"Hey is everything—"

"Shh!" Teddy commanded as pushed Kira back. "I think...wait, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kira questioned with slight panic. "Teddy, what's going on? The locker room's right here let's just go."

Teddy didn't respond. All she did was look straight ahead down the rest of the hall before them. There was nothing there aside from a small staircase leading to the next level. Teddy frowned slightly before slowly beginning to relax the tension from her shoulders. She could have sworn she heard something. It sounded a lot like a growl—

"Grrr..."

Teddy immediately felt herself tense up once again as she whipped her hand out to protectively push Kira behind her.

"What the hell was that?" Kira whispered as she followed the direction of Teddy's eyes.

Appearing from behind the staircase was a large, gray colored coyote. At first, it was quiet and didn't seem to even notice them with its piercing blue eyes. But once it lifted its nose into the air and took a whiff, it immediately began to growl again. This time, at them.

"Shit," Teddy cursed. "Kira let's go!"

Before the vicious animal could even take one step, Kira and Teddy were already inside of the boys' locker room.

The two girls scattered around to find a decent place to hide, but there wasn't much either of them could do in such an open area. They finally decided to kneel behind a set of lockers, both of them huddled close together so that they wouldn't be so easily found.

The coyote was smart enough to follow them into the locker room, as they both heard the sound of the doors creaking open along with an angry growl. But the scariest part about the entire situation was that for some odd reason, they couldn't hear which direction the animal was heading towards. It was as if it was tip toeing purposefully as not to give the two girls an idea as to where it was coming from.

Teddy wasn't sure what she should do. As her heart pounded against her chest, clutching her hands into knuckles, she knew deep down that at some point they would have to face off against the animal if no one else came to save them. But she wasn't really much competition for coyote. At least, not the way she was currently. She swore she wouldn't give into her growing powers for any reason, but was that really the price of someone else's life?

She closed her eyes shut as she thought carefully. Her alternative option was to distract the coyote and give Kira enough time to run out and find help, but how long would she last before she was devoured? Well, it was better than giving in to becoming a monster.

"Kira, when I tell you to run, make sure you run and get help, okay?" Teddy whispered into the brunette's ear.

"What?! Teddy are you crazy?"

"Ready," Teddy began despite Kira's claims. "1...2...3!"

"Teddy wait—"

Against Kira's words, Teddy spun out from behind the lockers.

The coyote stood before her, looking a little surprised at Teddy's boldness. But it quickly recovered from its shock and bared its fangs, releasing a terrifying growl in her direction. It began to position itself in a way that made Teddy figure it was getting ready to pounce her. She hoped that with this Kira would have enough time to sneak out of the room safely. She took a deep breath before shutting her eyes closed.

If this was how she died, getting mauled by a feral coyote that somehow made its way into her high school, it was a lot more interesting than how she originally perceived her death, which was dying in her sleep.

But instead of feeling herself being ripped to shreds by sharp teeth, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her body towards them. Then there was a loud bang.

Teddy's eyes opened to see that the three rows of lockers had collapsed on each other like dominoes. The coyote was no longer in front of her. In fact, it seemed as if the animal had escaped the room altogether.

She felt herself breathe again realizing she had basically just escaped death, but that she was still alive.

"Jesus Christ that was close."

Realizing that she still had a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, Teddy immediately escaped from their grasp and turned to see who the person was. Much to her surprise, she was looking up at a very shaken Stiles Stilinski.

Teddy blinked a few times at him before remembering that Kira had also been in the locker room with her. She found herself glancing around the room until she found the cheerful girl huddled into Scott's arms, Scott glaring at the direction of the lockers with a menacing look. Teddy's head tilted ever so slightly as she watched the way he panted heavily, his muscles bulging out from underneath his dark colored shirt as if he had just finished lifting weights.

And then she realized, he must've pushed the lockers down.

* * *

 _ **A/N;**_ **And here was chapter four! Sorry, there wasn't much going on here except for a little Kira and Teddy interaction. But at least you all got to see how Teddy behaves when she's around someone she's not comfortable with. And you also get to see her powers starting to progress. Anyways, see ya'll next chapter! Please review + follow + favorite.**


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